VOICES FROM THE CITY:
A GATHERING OF POETS
Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi organized “Voices from the City”,
a multi-textured poetry session with twenty local poets reciting their choicest
poems in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. While in the recent past the CSA has been
holding major events in which speakers from outside dominated, today’s session
was solely dedicated to the talent of the City Beautiful. Established poets as
well as budding writers vied with each other, holding the attention of the
audience with their verses. Their enthusiasm was evident in the gusto with
which they read their poems.
Those who held the platform this evening included the
following (in alphabetical order):
Amandeep Singh
Amarjit Amar
Balbir Tanha
BD Kalia Hamdum
Chander Trikha
Gurdeep Gul
Kedarnath Kedar
Manjit Indra
Mrs Pannu
Nirmal Dutt
Santosh Dhiman
Shams Tabrizi
Shashi Prabha
Sultan Anjum
Sushil Hasrat Narelvi
Taaran Gujral
TN Raaz
Urmil Sakhi
Vibha Ray
Yojana Rawat
The session began with the debut poet, Amandeep Singh, presented a poem
that drew comparisons between the West and the East, between America and
Punjab, focusing on the changed lifestyles of the people in contemporary time,
lamenting the loss of values and traditions. Sushil Hasrat’s poem on “Beti”,
focusing on the various roles donned by a woman, was greatly appreciated.
Highly topical, it spoke of the rising crimes against women and the need for social
awareness and reform. Veteran poet, Balbir Tanha’s verses, “Dil main chahat ke
chiragon ko halye rakhiye… laut aayengey, musafir hain safar pe nikley…” “unki yaado ko seeney se lagaaey rakhiye” won
a lot of applause.
Amarjit Amar displayed subtle humour and self-directed irony in his
poems while Urmil Sakhi, in a gentle, mellifluous voice, rendered a sensitive
poem of love, loneliness and loss couple with patriotism and sacrifice for the
nation. “Madari ban woh mere Bandar man ko nachaata hai...” “Sakhi who aayega
ik din laut kar… “
Vibha Ray, in a sequence of minaiture poems, painted different colours
of life, including women’s issues like “Arre o aadmi nazar zara jhuka ke rakh
teri is mehfil main aurat mahfooz nahi.” Shashi Prabha, too read short haiku
style poems.
Yojana Rawat’a verses spoke of relationships in the lap of nature, with
rivers and mountains representing human emotions and bonding. “Rang toh hamesha
hi hotey hain hamarey andar” began one of her poems, evoking the colours of
Holi and then went on to show how these colours may be destroyed by political violence.
Santosh Dhiman sang a longish poem on “Betiyan” which was appreciated
by the audience even though the lights went off and the hall was plunged in
darkness. The session was temporarily disrupted by a sudden storm that blew out
the lights and caused a temporary suspension of poetry but the veteran
hasya-kavi, TN Raaz, soon brought the show back on the rails with his humorous
poems, one of them lamenting the time when “Ek alhad si haseena humko baba keh
gayi.” Although advanced in years, the resounding applause TN Raaz received
proved that old is indeed gold.
Among the women poets it was Taaran Gujral who stole the show, reciting
her poems on childhood. She sings her poems and her composition “Matthe na lage
ilzaam” was greatly appreciated as she crooned in a voice mature and controlled.
Gurdeep Gul, another seasoned poet, recited deftly crafted couplets with ease and
felicity.
Kedarnath Kedar’s topic was the
atrocities perpetrated on women, referring to ageing money-laden sheikhs from
the Middle-East who marry adolescent girls young enough to be their grand-daughters.
Kedarnath writes in Punjabi and recites in a compelling, forceful manner, effectively
jolting the conscience of society. Birendra Kaur Pannu, who writes in Hindi as
well as Punjabi, sang a dirge lamenting the loss of a loved one. Manjit Indira’s
poem captured with nostalgia the lost ambience of “Babul da Vehra” and the
blessings of Ammi in a bygone childhood.
Shamz Tabrezi, the Urdu poet, insisted that one needs to be destroyed
by love in order to be a good poet. “tu agar ishk main barbaad nahi ho sakta
toh achcha shayar bhi nahi ho sakta.” Seriousness and levity were intricately woven
into his verse. Sultan Anujm, another senior poet who writes in Urdu, recited
his poems weighed down with ideas in a slow, sonorous, deliberate style: “Jinke
chalney se kaampey gulaabon ke dil, gulshanon ko khuda woh hawayen na de.”
Nirmal Dutt, writes in Punjab; he, presented his compositions in a
sophisticated, restrained manner, “katra katra, hauka, hauka,” liberally sprinkling
his poems with titli te jugnu
(butterflies and fireflies).
“Kalam se khoon kya tapka nahi hai / gazal ka rang kya nikhra nahi hai
/ sare bazaar isko na uchhalo / hamara dil koi sikka nahi hai,” said BD Kalia,
Humdum, who is equally skilled in Hindi and Urdu.
Chander Trikha brought the session to a grand finale with his couplets.
“Aadhey sach ki aadat chhod aur peed parai likh” was his advice. Write for
others, write with a purpose, was his parting advice to all.
In this evening’s session there was rhyme, rhythm, blank verse; there
were ghazals and couplets; there was love, romance, emotion, anger and much
more reflected in the poetry. Besides these poets there were many others who
expressed their keenness to present their poems. In the dark interlude when the
lights went off, a couple of senior citizens willingly came to the rescue and
held forth with extempore recitation of poems.
Manju Jaidka, the Chairperson of CSA, announced that a similar event
would be held in the last week of October to accommodate poets who did not get
a platform this evening and for those who write in English.
The event was ably conducted by Shri Madhav Kaushik, himself an
accomplished poet. Although the rain had tried to play spoilsport, it was
nevertheless a successful evening and the audience felt enriched by the variety
and range of poems presented.
Manju Jaidka
Chairperson, CSA
Milkha Singh came slightly late. But he dashed in and almost dashed out. It almost felt as though he were running a 400 metre race, teasing his captive audience, cocking a snook and challenging them with a "catch me if you can!"
